Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/331

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 265 of Vavaoo, the young chief returned with his wife to the last mentioned island, and lived long in peace and happiness. Such, as to matter of fact, is the substance of the account given by the old mataboole. There was one thing however stated, which might appear in opposition to probability, viz. that the chief's daughter remained in the cavern two or three months, before her lover found an opportunity of taking her to the Fiji islands : if this be true, there must have been some other concealed opening in the cavern to have afforded a fresh supply of air. With a view to ascertain this, Mr. Mariner swam with the torch in his hand up both the avenues be- fore spoken of, but without discovering any opening ; he also climbed every accessible place, with as little success. At the time Jeremiah Higgins was in this cavern it was nearly low water. He felt a draught of air coming from the left, and on examining the source of it found a hole which he thinks was more than a foot diameter, from which pro- ceeded a tolerably strong and steady breeze, but not the' least glimmer of light. This opening he guesses to have been about four feet above the surface of the water at that time. When Mr. Mariner was there, it must have been nearly high water, and the hole